Journey to the East

About one year ago, a conversation about BRBC establishing an ongoing relationship with a Christian organisation overseas started this journey to the east. After a series of meetings and e-mail exchanges, it became clear that BRBC was to become a connected church with Cambodian Hope Organisation in Cambodia. This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate the value of one church, to share the vision of responding to a community's spiritual and physical needs around the church. In order to make this happen, it was decided to send out a team to Cambodia to first understand CHO's work and secondly to explore how in practice BRBC can work with it in partnership.

At the start of 2011, this opportunity was shared with the congregation and received a very positive response. Many people showed interest and some signed up to this exploring trip, and more are supporting it through faithful prayers. By May, a team was formed. Tickets, team building meetings, jabs, cultural orientation and commissioning on Sunday service were done, and the team went and spent two amazing weeks in Poi Pet, Cambodia with CHO from 16 to 28 October.

Looking back, this has been a journey of personal callings. For each individual on the team, there is a deep sense of calling. For some, the journey to respond to this calling may have stretched back many years, and for others, it meant saying 'yes' to God followed by a Google search to see where Cambodia is on the map. Which ever route brought us to this point, the important thing is we said yes when we heard the call.

The two weeks in Poi Pet was a journey of intense emotions. We learnt what it means to be a country on its way to recovery and development. We were confronted by day to day difficulties from bumpy and muddy roads to water logged homes after the floods, and yet amazed how enduring the locals are by carrying on their life as normally as they can. We shed tears when we saw the victims of HIV and human trafficking. It was heart breaking to see and hear how life can be so hard, unfair and unjust for some people who are made the same way as you and me. It has been uplifting to discover that what CHO is doing transforms people's lives and gives them hope. All done in the name of Jesus. As CHO puts it, 'the night is nearly over, the day is almost here.' (Romans13:12)

As a team, we adventured together on a journey in a different culture and climate. We soon got accustomed to the local greetings and taking our shoes off  by the door. The team enjoyed local food - Graham and Doug even tried chicken feet and stir fried frogs. The sheer scale and intricate craftsmanship of Angkor Wat stunned us all. Our various shaped hats kept people from getting a 'overdone' tan and being in a 'Turkish bath' all day long didn't put us off from venturing into villages to meet with children who study at the school on a mat, or with ladies who set up their own sewing business after receiving training and a loan from CHO.

As ambassadors from BRBC, we brought greetings and relationship to Cambodia. We thoroughly enjoyed the connections with staff in CHO as believers of one God. Each morning, different people shared different messages in the staff devotions. We prayed and sung worship songs together in our own mother tongues.

Looking ahead, the journey to the East has just began for BRBC. What we have seen so far is just a tip of the iceberg - what God has in store in this relationship with our sisters and brothers in Cambodia is yet to be discovered by us, together as a church.

Liu Liu (31st October 2011) 

Poipet to Horsham via Paris!

We are pleased now to be able to tell you the team are safely back in Horsham.  Due to cancellation of all Qantas flights our travel plans home were severely disrupted.  We were re-booked onto Thai Airlines from Bangkok to Paris and then took the Eurostar train to London.  All worked well but a little longer but did have the bonus of breakfast in Paris!

Transformation Hope

Today like each day this week we met for devotions with CHO staff. For us this was a new experience though as it was led in Khmer by a Cambodian. One of the regular translators worked the other way around i.e. from Khmer to English. We really experienced worshipping as one church as we were led through Exodus 17 v2-3 reflecting how the people complained to Moses they were thirsty and compared the situation in Cambodia and parts of Africa are dry yet others nearby are flooded. We should have faith and continue to pray for these situations.

The normal pattern of the day is Devotions 7:30-8:00, Work 8:00-12:00, Lunch 12:00-13:30, Work 13:30-17:00 from Monday to Thursday. After devotions some staff travel to their work posts, those with longer distances 10-20 km from Poipet starting earlier. There are 67 CHO staff, which is not quite 72, but each day the words of Luke 10:1-20 are re-lived.   Fridays have a different pattern, there are training sessions at the CHO office for some of the mobile staff and office team. Today this included an hour by Sue giving staff their own higher level version of the Oral Health training she had been delivering to the children at Safe Haven. The message can be sustained for the future by CHO staff and the benefit of themselves and families too because we have left a written version of the training in Khmer with them. Simple sustainable solutions are welcome here!

Next door to the hotel (Ly Heng Chhay) we have been staying is CHO's newest project the Hope Transformation Center.  Much of my time this last week has been involved with some project management tasks, wiring, screen printing tee-shirts, setting up overhead projectors for the conference centre and chapel.  Even a chance to test the first production runs of bread and cookies from the bakery!  The Hope Transformation Center's five floors are planned both to add to CHO's services and as an opportunity for training and income generation.  Ground floor includes a coffee shop, beauty treatments, spa and cosmetics, and the sewing unit.  First floor will be CHO's office, second floor the conference center, third floor a hostel with caretakers accommodation and the fourth floor the chapel but also available for community hire for wedding etc.

Doug and Maria spent their last morning a Safe Haven, whilst I also travelled out to fix a staff PC and prepare the set-up of the computer suite in the library building. A minor problem though was that there was no power in that building yet so we had to run quite a long extension outside from another building. Although this is not completed we did have it all up and running and within a few days there will be 20 PCs for the children to use. There was lots of interest and enthusiasm from the children when the PC booted up the first time.

The real highlight of the day was our end of trip meeting with Chomno, CEO of CHO, in the afternoon. This gave us an opportunity, having seen the work in detail, to ask all our questions about the many aspects of CHO's work and Chomno's medium term plans for CHO and vision for the future. We also explored the many areas that BRBC could support CHO on a church to church basis. One hope, one vision, one church.

As I write this (Saturday morning 2:45 am, UK time) we are having a breakfast before we start our journey home.  Over the weekend we hope to provide a further up date of our travels and summary of the trip.  Please do check back for updates and thank you for your continuing prayers.

Graham (28th October)

It's all about people

CHO is an incredible organisation that has grown from one man with a vision in 2002 to having 67 staff and working in the areas of HIV/Aids, education, providing safe homes for children that have been trafficked or most at danger of trafficking, agriculture, vocational training and providing micro loans and business training to help people set up sustainable businesses for themselves. And all of that in just 10 years. Before we came they asked if they could meet with someone about HR so this has been the area that I have concentrated on over this last week. I have to say, it is very humbling to make suggestions to an organisation that is doing such an excellent job. Although their HR function has only really been established formally within the last year they have an excellent foundation regarding policies, practices and procedures. I met with the newly appointed Head of HR (he was previously the Head of Development) and will continue to keep in touch to support him with HR information when back in the UK.

In the afternoon Maria and I went back to the HIV/Aids clinic; we particularly wanted to understand more about how CHO is helping the patients. This time our guide and translator was CHO's team leader for the HIV/Aids work. He has lived in New Zealand so his English is perfect! We heard that CHO is supporting around 2,000 patients, most of whom are out-patients. Once on their radar these people receive on-going support and are never dropped. There is a team of 4; two of them visit villages every week day – rain or shine – to check on how patients are doing and two of them are counsellors in the clinic. The counsellors are there for anyone in the clinic who is having a crisis of any sort; some struggling to come to terms with being HIV+, some not clear how or when to take their medication etc. It can take a huge amount of patience to explain the importance of taking the ARV (anti-retroviral) drugs at exactly the same time of day every day. If they don't then the medication becomes ineffective and there are only 3 types of medication that can be taken – after that, nothing.

We had the opportunity to speak with individuals on the small ward supported by CHO. One lady had been there, with her son, for over a month; she is too weak to walk and is determined to try to rebuild her strength by eating well. One of the guys is a principal in a local school and is waiting to hear test results that will confirm whether he is HIV+ or not – a very anxious wait. The other guy's story was very moving; he is divorced from his wife and takes care of three children. He works in the market, matching pairs of shoes. Since he has been sick he has found it difficult to earn enough money to pay rent. It sounds like they are on the verge of becoming homeless. His oldest child is a 15 year old girl and in this situation is very vulnerable to being trafficked. She has never been to school because she always had to help her parents. The two boys, 12 and 9, have had some time in school but can no longer go. The two eldest children also work in the market when their dad is not able to. CHO will see if they can put this family on a special path of care and support – possibly training the father in a new skill so that he can support his family better and also consider how they can help the children go to school. This really was seeing first hand how a family can start on the path of transformation.

We also heard that the whole clinic (and there are various parts to it!) is run by volunteers – doctors, nurses, counsellors, admin staff, drug dispensers and lab technicians. They used to get paid by the government until about 2 years ago but not since. The clinic provides care for people who literally walk in off the street and is therefore a vital source of medical care for people who can't afford standard hospital treatment. Those who run it know the importance of the hospital so give their time in addition to their other paid work.

I think that for me, hearing the passion of the team leader and how committed he is to keeping hold of all those in their care, was very moving. He has a budget to manage but in the case of the man with his three children CHO will need to find additional funding to get them to the stage where they are financially stable. He says that in situations like this they pray. We will pray too.

Allison (27th October)

Break the cycle

On Monday evening if anyone had said to me, "Will you ever return to Poipet?" my answer, without any hesitation would have been, "No!" Today it is Wednesday and, while I was looking out across the city, I found myself weeping. Not tears of sorrow or despair but tears of thankfulness for how God has shown me the heart of these people.

Tom, when he sent a blog from New Delhi, spoke of his wonder at how the children could look so happy. Over the last few days I have been so privileged and humbled by a very similar experience. Maria spoke of some of challenges of working at Safe Haven and of the way in which the children are so keen to learn. It is as if they know and understand that if they can receive a good education then they can change their future. CHO works tirelessly to create an infrastructure which allows those it supports to build a better life for themselves – a life which does not rely on the generosity of others. Rescued children are 'fostered' in Safe Homes; they go to school at Safe Haven, they learn practical skills and eventually will be offered micro-loans enabling them to start their own businesses. There are also hopes to open a university.

As we leave Poipet this weekend, hundreds of cyclists, mainly from Canada and Australia, will cycle from Angkor Wat to Poipet – a distance of 144Km. Many of the CHO staff will join them and they hope to raise 200,000 USD. The fundraising event is called "Break the Cycle" and that is exactly what CHO hopes to do – break the cycle of poverty which provides opportunity for trafficking and abuse. (see breakthecycle.org.au for more information).

Will I ever return to Poipet? Ultimately the answer is in God's hands but the people and their wonderful spirit captures your heart and, who knows ....?   

Doug (26th October)

A day in the life of an English teacher

'If you speak English, you're a teacher' a American repeat visitor told me on Sunday. It seems she knew what she was talking about as Doug and I have been treated like trained language teachers despite our protestations that we are only here to help the existing teachers. But with a teacher shortage at Safe Haven, the school have been unable to spare a teacher to translate for both us (teaching English) and Sue (teaching Oral Hygiene), meaning we've been thrown in the deep end!

After the morning's devotions and breakfast we catch a lift to Safe Haven in time for the second lesson of the morning. When we arrive the children on on their morning break, and greet us with big smiles and shouts of 'hello!' We then teach two English classes, starting with the very youngest children. Despite the challenges of communication with the children, we have had a fun, interesting and informative time, and hopefully the children feel the same! A favourite with them all are the inflatable globes we brought with us. After only two days, some of the children can find Cambodia with ease - not because we spent ages teaching it, but because the children are very fast learners. 


Unlike the CHO buildings, Safe Haven has no air con or fans, so it gets very hot for us during the day, even indoors. The children think it's quite funny to see us sweating in the heat when this, for them, is the coolest part of the year. We are very grateful then that CHO have insisted on us returning to their restaurant for lunch as it gives us a welcome break from the heat, and gives us a chance to catch up with the rest of the team. 


When we return for afternoon lessons, the children have finished their packed lunches. Some of the children live on the site, in the houses for trafficked children. Others have travelled in from Poipet (mostly CHO staff's children). Most are from the nearby village on the junction of the East-West paved highway from Poipet and the very rough soil road south past Safe Haven.  Our journey home is interesting because the truck we arrived in transforms into a school bus, taking home eight adults and seven children today. The driver is Tihea, and who spends his time at Safe Haven as a welder, and is currently building shelves for the new library. He works long and hard for CHO, as all the CHO staff seem to. Another example is the head master of the Safe Haven school, who spends his weekend studying at university. This evening we met him again when we returned for dinner; he told us he had just cycled 30km as part of his practice for a fundraising ride this weekend. When Sue asked him where he gets his energy from he told us "It comes from God".

Maria (25th October)

Brother, Sister, let me serve you; let me be as Christ to you

Today began, as all other days (Monday to Friday) do, with devotions at 0730 hours at the CHO office (that's 0130hrs with you!) It is profoundly moving to sing worship songs such as “This is my desire to honour You” simultaneously in different languages as Christian brothers and sisters ; the many voices blending into a single act of pure praise. Graham led the devotions this morning, speaking about how God uses ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things and giving examples from the book of Acts about individuals who waited a long time before they felt they were being “called by name” but by stepping up to the challenge when it came, enabled the work of God to progress in just the right way at just the right time, although they themselves did not necessarily see the whole picture of how this was to come together with the work of others at the time.

As CHO approaches its 10^th birthday in 2012, we can see very clearly how God has used quite a number of quite remarkable men and women (none of whom would call themselves special and who are in fact extremely modest), each playing their own part, to build an exceptionally vibrant and visionary proactive organisation, which is making a serious impact for good in one of the poorest parts of one of the most needy countries of the world.

This morning our team began working in earnest on the piece of the jigsaw puzzle of this intentional activity which we have each come to help CHO put in place. To have participated in the cultural and program awareness sessions of last week (based on their own recommendations) was absolutely vital in enabling us to communicate with and work alongside them to do this effectively; we could not conceive of coming alongside this dignified group of people in the way we are now able to do had we not made a real effort to do understand what they are trying to do and who they really are in our first week. We have so much clearer an appreciation of the reality of who they are and how they themselves view their past, present and future. Most importantly, we understand how they view their own priorities.

As many of you already know, my particular piece of the jigsaw is to try and make first steps to address the extremely poor oral health issues of the children in Safe Haven school. Cambodian children in general have an extremely high rate of dental decay and also other many mouth diseases, the most common of which is juvenile periodontal (gum) disease. The condition of their mouths also offers many clues regarding their general health, but we will leave that story for a future time and simply deal with tooth decay in this blog entry. In the UK, on average, a 5 year old child has just a single tooth (out of 20) affected by decay. Many of these teeth will have already been filled or extracted, so many less children than that actually have active decay in their mouths. Only very few have actual pain or infection present. In Cambodia, the average 5 year old child has 8-10 teeth affected by dental decay, and virtually none of these will have received any treatment at all. Most do not know what a dentist is, or what toothpaste and a toothbrush are. Many have chronic pain and infection, and no medication is available to help relieve this either. Today I started with Grade 1 students, dividing the class into two groups, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. With me I had an English speaking teacher and a most able “dental assistant” in the form of the ever capable Liu Liu, who can, it seems, turn his hand to almost any situation and who rose to this “hands on” challenge most gently yet proficiently.

I have brought with me a bilingual Khmer/English educational tool containing culturally targeted information diet and options for cleaning in order to make realistic recommendations as to how to start to improve oral health. (This tool was a gift from the dental colleague who compiled it herself – in complete compliance with the Cambodians own national oral health strategy- after she had returned from working in a different location in Cambodia. The dental charity “Dentaid” introduced us just at the time our team's intention to go to Cambodia was confirmed. Having this information with me means the teachers can work alongside me now, learning as we go, being sure of accurate translation of key facts and I can leave copies with them to continue with oral hygiene on the curriculum here long after I have left. My main aims this week are the identification of any children who require urgent surgical intervention and “damage limitation” for the others by introducing simple changes to their diet and teaching them why, and how to clean their teeth, and practising this with them, while also supplying the tools which they need to do this. For many of the children aged 5-8 I worked with today, we gave them their first ever toothbrush (and will be ensuring that Safe Haven has access to suitable replacement brushes for the future.) Of the 19 children we saw today, just one 5 year old had no dental decay, and nearly all the others had 8 or more seriously decayed teeth; including decaying adult teeth for those few children old enough to have such teeth who are still in this grade. About half the children reported having painful teeth (or earache related to decayed teeth) either now or at some recent time in the past. They are pushing their national average of poor dental health up (and by some!)

The staff at Safe Haven are really keen that all their children should benefit from this work (and this should result in the future of many more being able to eat and sleep more comfortably and concentrate on school work better.) The staff are fully supportive of the key changes I have suggested which will make a world of difference given a relatively short amount of time. The woodwork/carving department are now all lined up to make hygienic toothbrush storage units for individually named toothbrushes for each classroom and staff are happy to supervise tooth brushing after school lunch before the school afternoon begins. They appreciate the scientific evidence that if teeth are brushed well last thing at night and also for a second time sometime during the day, and this combined with simple diet changes of keeping sugary food and drinks to mealtimes only and drinking & snacking on non sugary things between, should result in the rate of new decay to plummet. The developing adult teeth of the youngest children will then have a greatly increased chance to stay healthy and that is a great gift to a child.

All the children were very keen to learn about how to brush their teeth and none of these, even the youngest ones, wanted to miss out on having disclosing dye placed on their teeth to stain their dental plaque to show them where and how much they needed to use their brushes. Liu and I were kept very busy indeed!

As the week progresses I will conduct a similar program (appropriately adapted to age and ability) with each group of students in the school. Then on Friday I am due to talk to the teachers and also the CHO staff about the basic science of the common dental diseases and the strategic management of how to continue developing the prevention program for the future.

Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too

Although we are a very diverse team we are well bonded. “Team time” including prayer every day is ensuring a wonderful team spirit with mutual understanding and care.

Finally, I cannot covey in a blog like this just how warmly we have been welcomed and how careful our hosts are to cater for our every need and comfort. Their vision is so enormous, their faith is so strong and their dedication to their individual part of the task so sincere. Their faces radiate joyfulness even when they are so tired they can barely stand up! It is humbling to now be counted among their friends. To receive so much from these people who live so modestly yet live so graciously with all the difficulties and discomforts that are part of everyday life here is a challenge to us every day.

Please continue to pray for the workers and the work of CHO and for the people they hope to serve in the future as well as those whom they currently serve. Please also pray for us that we will complete the work we have come to do well and that we will be able to leave behind a lasting legacy upon which they can build towards their vision in a faster and stronger way than before.

Sue (24th October)

Sunday – day of rest!

Trouble is, nobody had told the party who started this incessant chanting and speech making at 5.00 in the morning. It was broadcast from the other side of the road from our hotel using two very large loudspeakers and even those on the opposite side of the hotel were woken up! It had been going on from when we arrived from Siem Reap the previous day and had only paused for 6 hours at 11pm on Saturday night. It carried on into the afternoon! We discovered later that it was a ritual that took place 100 days after the death of a loved one.

Leaving the noise behind us we walked along the dusty street to CHO's offices for Sunday worship, about 800 yards away. Along the way little children rushed to greet us, shouting, “Hello!” and holding up their hands for a 'high-five' greeting - evidence that Americans had walked that way before us(?); we've not mentioned before how surprised we have been by the presence of teams and individuals from many parts of the world – all wanting to support the work of CHO. Some come with specific skills and stay for quite a while, while others turn their hand to whatever needs doing. It has been encouraging and inspiring to hear some of their stories and it has reminded us that we are part of the one church. A theme very ably developed when Maria preached on Paul's letter to the Ephesians (Chapter 4, verses 1 – 6 & 5. 19 – 21); speaking through a very competent interpretor, Maria spoke about God's call on us to be united, reminding us that we are part of the one church and that both she, and the interpretor who translated for the Cambodians, are inspired by the very same Spirit.

The worship had begun at 9.00 and a small group of musicians led a wonderful time of worship. Some of the songs were familiar and were even projected on the screen in English, there was a wonderful cacophony of sound as the English (sung by Americans, Canadians, Australians and English) mixed with the rich sound of the Cambodians singing in Khmer; occasionally, the sounds came together as we sang Hallelulah! Other songs were not translated but, along with the Khmer characters, were the words in a form we could attempt to read – if not understand. Both the worship and the prayers were a real blessing to us and the privilege of having one of our team to preach was very special.

Before lunch we walked down one of the less well travelled roads and were able to see at closer quarters how the people lived and scratched a living. Most of the buildings, just a few feet from the road, are completely open at front (At least, here, they were dry; we have seen many where they have been under several inches of water.) – the nearest equivalent I can think of is the shops along a seafront town in England. Their wares are displayed as best they can and there seems to be little variance between one and the next, occasionally there is a stall selling MP3 players. Some are cooking on open woks, pouring hot oils onto what looks like pieces of chicken; one lady was washing duck eggs - there seemed to hundreds of them. For the most part we felt perfectly safe, the biggest danger being the motor bikes and very heavily laden carts which constantly passed within feet of where we were walking – there was no pavement! The people were either friendly, greeting us with a smile, or indifferent.

We are very slowly beginning to have a slightly better insight into the lives of these people and we are looking forward to our first day of real engagement tomorrow (Monday).

Doug (23rd October)

Break the Cycle

If you have an interest in cycling CHO is a partner of breakthecycle.org.au.  On Sunday 30th October at least 100 hundred cyclists including 20 CHO staff will ride 144 kilometres from Angkor Wat near Siem Reap to Safe Haven, Poipet.  You can follow progress and read more about the trip here and the objective to raise both awareness and funds for the Cambodian Hope Organization working with people in Cambodia to see the women and children in poverty rescued and belonging to hope-filled communities.

Wat we've been doing

This blog entry is for Friday and Saturday, since we spent the night in Siem Riep, and the title for this entry was inspired by the team's pastime of thinking up bad puns. Many apologies.

Siem Riep is the second biggest city in Cambodia, and the nearest city to Poipet. We chose to take an over-night visit to Siem Riep as we hoped it would help us better understand Cambodian culture and CHO's work.

We started our journey immediately after devotions and breakfast. The main road through Poipet is as long and straight as a roman road, running from across the Thailand/Cambodia border, through Poipet, and another 140km to Siem Riep. As it's such an important road, it is paved in tarmac and well cared for, which cuts the journey down to a comfortable 3 hours. Only a few years ago the same road unpaved took around seven hours.

Siem Riep is not only a big city, but the most popular tourist destination in Cambodia. This is because of the temples (called 'Wats'), which date from around the 9^th - 13^th centuries (late Saxon and early medieval times in England). The Wats are an incredibly important part of Cambodia's religious, social and political history, and so we were delighted to hear that entry is free for Cambodians, because it means that everyone can benefit from seeing this cornerstone of their heritage. The most impressive Wat is Angkor Wat, which is the building you see pictured on the Cambodian flag. We visited Angkor Wat and the older Ta Porhn Wat, which were both stunning. The experience was marred somewhat though by the pushy souvenir touts outside each of them. Many of these were children and it was very challenging not to buy from them when they spoke to you in English, and seemed so small and needy. But we knew any money they made would only serve as encouragement to keep them out of school and on the streets working for whoever really got the money.

While in Siem Riep we were lucky enough to be able to watch a performance of traditional 'apsara' dancing. I was absolutely thrilled to be able to see it, as I had read about it before travelling to Cambodia, and had not expect to have the privilege of seeing it performed. The dance was almost totally lost under the Khmer Rouge, with only two or three dancers surviving through this period, including one princess of the royal family. These remaining dancers have been able to resurrect the tradition with only their own memories and the carvings of dancers at the Wats, and after only a few decades it is again a thriving and valued part of Khmer (Cambodian) culture. So much that we see here speaks of hope and new life after the immense destruction caused by the Khmer Rouge. The resurrection of the dance style, the restoration work under way at the Wats, the rapid construction of roads, and soon railways too.

Our journey was enjoyable, but more importantly educational. Reatrey, CHO's office manager, kindly travelled with us as host, guide, driver and translator, and was able to give us a great insight into everything we saw and experienced. I think we all now feel that we have a better sense of Cambodia, that will allow us to be that much more effective in the coming week.

One final thing; those of you who have been watching the news will be aware that the flooding in Bangkok is getting very serious. I hope you will join us in praying for the humanitarian situation there.Cambodia is also flooding, but to a lesser degree. Nonetheless, we saw homes and businesses with water flowing right into the buildings, and many people are going about their normal lives wading in floodwater. Some roads have become impassable, and people are using the dirty floodwater to drink, wash and cook. As we drove past rice fields, Reatrey explained to us that the water was too high swamping the rice plants so much they can't grow, meaning Cambodia faces a poor harvest this year. Please pray for all these things.    

Maria (22nd October)

Joining up

Sing-up

Today, Thursday, has been a day of contrasts. Each day we start at 7.30 with devotions at the CHO Office, this morning led by Doug on Psalm 37. We recognised both the worship songs today! (“Lord Jesus we enthrone you” and “God sent His son; they call Him Jesus” although of course sung in Khmer). It is a really special experience to worship with with the CHO staff team. Before we started the team's planned program I was then asked to make a flying visit (which turned into an hour!) to the Hope Transform Center (see Monday's post) with Reatrey, the CHO General Manager, to discuss the details of the fit out of the conference room and chapel audio visual equipment ready for installation next week. This should mean that the builders can carry on with confidence over the next few days or so placing equipment stands and wiring in the correct places, and no doubt there will be more to report about this next week.

Building-up

As a team we then travelled in the 4x4 for an hour south east of Poipet, past Safe Haven School and out across terrain best described as largely “off road” crossing two rivers (one in flood) and further on still crossing two remnants of World War 2 bridges into an area that was one of the last regions held by the Khmer Rouge. We finally arrived at a church building – a simple brick built structure with an iron roof furnished with a tiled floor and open windows, where we were met by 5 Cambodian families and their children, all assembled to meet us with two musicians playing to mark our arrival. On Sunday afternoons this is a place of worship for 50 local people. The church building was by far the most advanced structure on the site. After introductions we were able to listen while they shared details of their daily lives and also some of their concerns with us. We heard about their baptisms, the visit by a doctor just once in the last year and their daily walk of 1 kilometre (5/8 mile if you prefer!) to collect water (and that is only contaminated flood water). For some of us this was the first time actually meeting people who have to do this task when we normally take the supply of clean water completely for granted and it was a very humbling experience. We were asked if we would pray with them and we did.

Stitched-up

In the afternoon we travelled for an hour, north from Poipet and very close to the Thai border to one of sewing classes in a CHO facility. For us, this was an off road journey by 4x4 again, but for CHO staff a journey made each day by motorbike. A class was in progress for 12-15 year old girls. This is part of a one year course which includes both anti-trafficking education and bible study before each sewing class begins. The sequel to this story came later in the afternoon when we visited another sewing unit in the suburbs of Poipet, where we met a group of four ladies who had made good use of CHO's micro-loan scheme (start-up finance) to acquire a building, four electric sewing machines and other necessary sewing equipment. This particular group had been one of CHO's first sewing classes in 2004 and were now producing clothing and small fabric goods for sale in Bangkok and in doing so were able to make their own financial way in the world.

It is possible we may not be blogging tomorrow as we visit Siem Reap and Angkok Wat to learn about Khmer culture, we will have to see what the internet connection is.

Graham (20^th October)

Shaken, stirred and soaked

This is not about those who go out on Her Majesty's secret service, it is more to do with people who work for His majesty's ministry, a story about teachers, students and school on mats.

Shaken

After breakfast, a 4 x 4 Jeep was waiting for us. We went in as we were told. Five minutes later, we came off the tarmac road and turned onto an unsurfaced side road - the side road then became a village dirt track just enough for one vehicle to pass by. To call it a dirt track is pushing it, as it is the end of raining season, many sections of the track are in fact mud ponds. A normal vehicle allows forward and backward movement, but our one added extra two directions, up and down and side to side. Between the cheers to our driver after a successful navigation over a pond and 'hold on tight' warnings, we reached the first location of school on mat. After this 40 minutes ride, we were definitely 'shaken'.

Stirred

Where there are no government schools around Poi Pet, CHO brings education to the children. Currently, there are 5 teachers employed by CHO. Each teacher covers 3 classes each day in different locations, each class consists of between 20 to 30 students. The school we visited in the morning has two grades. The teacher sits the students in two directions. On each direction, there is a whiteboard. The teacher teaches maths to half of the class, leaves them with some questions, then turns to the other side to teach the other half of the class Khmer. This alternated teaching lasted one hour and half.

We were deeply stirred by how little resources they have and yet how eager the children want to learn, the resourcefulness of the teacher and the level of respect the class give her. Most of all, the dedication of the teachers, this one and the rest. Remember the muddy pond we had a 'shaken' ride, these teachers travel on their motorbike, sometimes with a whiteboard, three locations a day, four days a week and four weeks a month. Without them, the children will not have any education or any hope for the future.

Soaked

As the days goes on, it definitely became more eventful. On our way to visit a different school on a mat, we were faced with a seemingly small stream. We rolled up our trousers and started to wade across. Doug was the brave first one. On his second step in the water, his right foot went into a thigh deep ditch underwater and he lost his balance and went chest deep in the water. He was quickly helped out, he was totally soaked. As we were leaving the place, Doug realised he had lost his glasses in the water. One minute later, the teacher called a boy over and before we realised what was going on, the boy went into the water and dived under to search for the glasses. We were stirred again by such helpfulness and such a sacrificial spirit.  

Liu Liu (19th October)

The Safe Haven dream

Well, today was incredibly moving; we visited the Safe Haven, where children who are rescued from traffickers are given a safe home, education and the love of an accepting family environment. In addition to the 37 children currently housed on the site, a further 52 come as day students from local villages. These children are Cambodia's future. One thing that particularly impacted us was seeing the difference between a withdrawn boy who is new to Safe Haven, in comparison with the other children – the healing process that they are all going through has only just begun for him. And he's just 7 years old. It is truly humbling that we will be working with these children next week and we trust that God will use us as part of the healing that He's bringing in their lives.

And from there we went to visit an HIV/Aids centre, run by CHO and the government in partnership, to care for people who have been diagnosed with HIV or coping with the more advance stages of Aids. It's one thing to hear the statistics or read articles and quite another to see 5 women with their young children playing around their beds and hear that their husbands have abandoned them. Again, what CHO is doing is to help people like these women when all hope seemed to be gone. Even our guide was clearly choked by their situation despite explaining this to many teams that visit this incredible organisation each year.

Allison (18th October)

Cambodia "Kingdom of Hope"

Today we journeyed along the world of modern concrete roads, safely above the world of water in Thailand, where it is true that the floods are having a serious impact on the ordinary population living and working beneath.  Nearly four hours after leaving Bangkok we passed smoothly through the border on foot while our bags were trundled through on a traditional handcart..
We have been most warmly welcomed and been introduced to Chomno and his team and visited the remarkable project in progress right next to our accommodation which is being prepared to receive young women rescued from trafficking among many more uses for this amazing building which will also house a worship centre (on the fifth floor - no lift!)  Read more about this project here.

Sue (17th October 2011)

6000 miles and some things don't change

6000 miles and 10¾ hours later and we arrive in Bangkok. First reaction, it feels like standing in a hot bathroom just after someobody's had a shower. Second reaction, as we're driven fast but very capably along the busy 6 lane road, is how many of the advertising signs and slogans are written in English.

Doug (Sunday, 16^th October)

We have arrived in Bangkok

Saturday, 15th October.

Here we are leaving Heathrow.  Thank you Jean and Tim R.:

Sunday, 16th October

The first part of our journey has brought us to Bangkok.  Everyone had a good flight.  The team are all well and looking forward to our road trip to Cambodia tomorrow.  It has been raining here !!! But the van made it's journey to us safely this morning and the road was clear. Reatrey, the office manager from CHO  met us at the airport.  Let's pray that it stays that way.

Comments and questions for the team

Is there something you would like to ask the team?   Maybe something you would like us to find out whilst we are in Cambodia?  You can add your comments to this post below or if you prefer email us at this address:

Weather in Poipet

There is a new page (above) showing the seven day forecast for Poipet.